We are into a new year and much is happening.

During the current 40+ degree C days the 4 new Eco-villas are drawing close to completion for the April 1st bookings. All this just in time for the May 1st handover of some 9000 hectares of Arkapena Station to Rawnsley Park.

Very exciting times as we expand Rawnsley Park’s capacity to assist you to enjoy your Flinders adventure even more!

One of the new tours we will be offering is the Chace Range Sunset Tour. A wonderful panoramic sunset backdrop to a very pleasant consumption of some local wine and fresh antipasto tray from the Woolshed Restaurant.

Tony and Julie, with some willing staff and friends gave it a try out recently…

Tony talks over the tour plans with some of the blokes…

…and the ladies are more interested in the drinks and nibbles.

We have had around 4 inches of rain in the last 4 to 5 weeks, mostly monsoonal moisture from the north. After a dry winter it is wonderful to the trees, bushes and shrubs looking so green and happy. Not much germinates with summer rain though, apart from some ferals like onion weed which loves summer rain, some vines and one or two others which provide some feed at least.

Norton became a multi media sheep shearing star today being filmed by the “Totally Wild” TV crew as well as by two Dutch journalists. He still got paid the same though!

As Rawnsley Park Station continues to grow, and we expand our walking, biking and driving tour operations,

we have found that stableing and caring for our horses, as well as the labour and expense of running the horse rides is no longer viable. With some sadness we announce that on the 25th of December this year the last horse ride will have been conducted at Rawnsley Park. 

Construction on the 4 new Eco-villas is well under way. The footing pads are in, the steel floor shell form work is erected and ready to be filled with concrete for the floor. All is on track for an April ‘09 start date. Touch wood! In the photo Tony & Julie inspect the sites and plans.  

A sad day at Rawnsley today! An old & trusted friend had his life cut short when hit by a car this morning. It was one of those incidents that you know shouldn’t have occurred & if you could wind back the clock you would. Sarah was bringing the horses in for the 9.30am ride as we have done for the last 20 years. But this morning there was quite a bit of traffic on the road, a car slowed to allow the horses past & another car decided to over-take through the dust & glare. Fabio was caught a glancing blow to the rear leg, rolled over the windscreen & down the driver’s side of the car. The damage to the car is substantial, the couple driving were quite shaken, Sarah was distraught, and Fabio had to be put down. Fabio has been known to be a bit obstinate when he thinks enough is enough, but he has been a wonderful worker over the last 13 years at Rawnsley. He has probably carried over 1000 riders in that time so I am sure that there are many others that will shed a tear on his passing. Farewell old friend.

It’s been a big week for our neighbours up the road. We heard this week that Keith and Lynette Rasheed have sold the Wilpena Resort to the Anthology Group. The handover is happening just about as we write this.

There have been months of rumours in the district that it was the Voyages group or Alan Scott of Mt Gambier trucking fame or the group which has taken over the Ozone Hotel in Kingscote, Kangaroo Island. The bush telegraph works hard around here -but its accuracy is sometimes open to question! Anwyay it’s great to have an operator with a national profile coming to the district. Anthology also operates the Bay of Fires Walks and Cradle Mountain Huts in Tasmania and are developing top-end products elsewhere. And its nice that its key person, Grant Hunt, is on the board of Tourism Australia!

This reinforces the power of the Wilpena brand. It’s been the heart of tourism in the Flinders Ranges for decades and we all owe much to Keith and Lynette for their years of effort. We’ve all benefited from the exposure which they’ve won for Wilpena and the Flinders Ranges through their marketing and publicity efforts internationally and locally. Enjoy the break from managing 40 or 50 staff and the change to sitting back and enjoying the ambience from our southern neighbour, Arkaba Station.

We’re really looking forward to getting to know our new neighbours and working with them to develop tourism in the Flinders Ranges. This is a pretty neighbourly area and we do our best to work in with each other. That’s because we live in a really beautiful place -but there aren’t a lot of people on the ground and so we just have to pitch in together to be heard and to get things done.

So, welcome Anthology! You’re not just coming to Wilpena and the Flinders Ranges. You’re bringing a national perspective to tourism in South Australia.

Congratulations to Tim & Marg (Our Tour Guide and Front Office Manager) on their marriage. Sat August 30 brought the heaviest rain event for the winter at Old Wilpena Station with around an inch of rain. It caused a quick change of venue as the marquee floor was mud. The service moved to the reception venue at the Old Wilpena Woolshed. The day was relaxed and delightful as everyone was so pleased to see the much needed rain and the wet trees and landscape were a perfect photo background. The afternoon concluded with the most glorious, firey sunset over the Pound and ranges.